The present invention relates to a article carrier or tray for accommodating one or more articles, for example foodstuff or the like, formed from a blank of paperboard or suitable foldable sheet material, and more particularly to a corner arrangement for retaining liquid from the foodstuff.
Tray structures formed from board generally lack strength when compared to trays formed from plastic material so more commonly trays are formed from polystyrene or other plastics material and the foodstuff is protected by a plastic film.
It is known from WO93/15962 to provide a fluid tight packaging tray formed from cardboard comprising a single base panel surrounded by side and end wall structures connected by an enclosure arrangement to maintain a food tight seal and to prevent liquid from rising by capillarity.
Another example is illustrated in GB 1 237 895 which shows a box formed from a blank with a corner gusset arrangement to impart liquid-proofness to the box body. However, such arrangements involve complex folding operations, which limits the carton construction speeds.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,487 to Wood discloses an end loaded carton having an end closure structure comprising triangular corner panels hingedly connected with the lower edge of each side wall and a pair of closure panels hingedly connected to each corner panel and to a bottom end panel via a web panel.
Such trays are commonly of a unitary size which can cause the product to move within the tray which is undesirable as it can lead to degradation of the tray and an unsightly appearance. Furthermore, trays often have a large “foot print” in relation to the size of article to be packaged. Therefore, space is often wasted during storage and delivery of the tray.